Falling with Grace
by Fawna
Summary: Deep breath, keep moving. One year and still no sign of him. She's being hunted again, and still no sign, he's really gone, forever. She's thinking that maybe, just maybe, this time it would be easier to just let herself be caught.


_-o-Prologue-o- _

Deep breath, keep moving.

My lungs burned as I ran, knowing there was nothing to do but run. Even though, deep down, I knew it wouldn't help. In fact, I was sure I was being teased, cat and mouse, and I was not the cat. But then I hear it, the howling, and I knew, help was coming. But I also knew, it would be too late. She jumped out at me, her long red hair trailing behind her as I crashed into her chest. I fell backwards, and strong cold hands caught me. I was almost relieved, until I realized that those hands, _his_ hands, would never be there to catch me again. When these hands spun me around I came face to face with a new vampire. He was a little average looking and his deep crimson eyes shined in the twilight.

When he smiled I flinched back, only to stumble into her again, and her hand was on my shoulder, she turned me, her face alight with rage as she smirked at me. I almost told tell her this would do no good, that he had left, he didn't care about me, this would hurt _no one_. But I kept my mouth shut, let her think she had gotten her revenge, then maybe she would just leave everyone else alone. She ran her cold finger down my face, tracing the trail of the tears. I almost didn't see her hand as she reached back and then punched me in the face. I went flying backwards, my leg crashed against a tree and I knew it was broken. I was going nowhere fast. I heard another howl, and then another, closer this time. Maybe, just maybe they _were_ close enough.

"No one is coming to your rescue." The other vampire said, looking down at me as they both stocked over to me.

"Um, I beg to differ." I said wincing in pain as I sat up. I looked in the direction the howling was coming from. "I'm fairly sure that there are people on their way."

"No one will make it in time." Victoria snarled as she approached.

"Probably not," I agreed nodding my head. I stopped and tried to fight off the dizzy spell that hit me. "So, are we going the torture route, or can we just get this over with?" I asked, trying to sound blasé about the whole thing. Part of me, a large part, wanted her to finish it, to be done with all of this. But there was that part of me, that bit that's still a fighter, which wanted to live.

"Oh," She said shaking her head as a nasty smirk formed on her face. "I'm not going to kill you." She said as she knelled down next to me, her red eyes aflame with the hunger.

"Let me." Her over eager partner in crime said.

"Riley!" She snapped looking over her shoulder at him. He quieted at once, and she looked back at me. "You see, I'm going to bite you, but just enough to turn you. And then, I'm going to leave you here." She stood slowly, her eyes never leaving mine. Her head snapped to the right, a smile blooming over her face, as another howl broke the silence of the woods. "And I'm going to let the wolf's take care of the rest."

I took a deep breath as she reached out her hand to me. When I did not take her hand she just grabbed me by the neck and lifted me, effortlessly to my feet. I winced in pain when my broken leg touched the ground. I almost fell over again, but by some miracle I stayed on both my feet. I rubbed my neck where I was sure there would be a bruise, not that it mattered. I sighed as Victoria circled me slowly, ending up standing behind me. I had my eyes on Riley, who had his eyes on my leg. It was then that felt the blood as it began to slowly run down my ankle. It must have broken the skin; I held back the smile and hoped that Riley would not be able to hold himself back.

I felt her cold hands on my neck as she pulled my long hair back, flinging it forward, so it rested on my shoulder. My thoughts, not for the first time, went to him. I hoped he was ok, I hoped he never had to find out about this. I hoped, if he did, he would not take out his anger on the werewolf's; they would just do what they had to. When I felt her breath on my neck I winced, wishing I was anywhere but here. I closed my eyes and for the first time in over a year I let his face come into my mind. I let the feelings and memories of _his_ hands and _his_ breath fill me again.

When her teeth sank into my neck I hardly felt it so lost in my memories I was. The pain however, was harder to ignore and as it spread from my neck she released me and I felt her at my feet. The sharpness of her bit was nothing compared to the fire that began to fill my mind. I tried to hold on to his face, his topaz eyes, shining with a smile meant only for me. I felt myself fall, felt the ground, cold and soft beneath me. I took a deep breath as the pain began to spread up from my legs, then, before I realized she had done it, I felt the pain in my arms too.

It was too much, too much hurt, too much pain, all I wanted was the end. I prayed that the wolfs would find me before it fully took effect. I finally opened my eyes and found I was alone in the woods again. Night had fully fallen now, twilight gone, for good I was afraid. As I lay there, dying his face filled my mind again. I closed my eyes, holding on to the vision. I finally let the darkness I had been fighting off creep up on me, letting my mind go to the pain and suffering. I opened my eyes one last time, wishing I could see his eyes, once more.

"Edward."

-o-o-o-o-o-

I was being carried, and I was too warm, my body protested at the movements as whatever was carrying me ran. I could almost see the trees fly by, and I could feel fur under my hands. We stopped to fast and I went flying off of whatever I was on. I landed on my back, my leg twinged painfully at the impact. My vision blurred and I could see a shadow just out of the corner of my eyes. I almost recognized him, but my mind didn't want to work hard enough to figure it out.

"I'm sorry Bella." The voice belonging to the figure said. I recognized the voice too and so I worked a little harder at identifying it. "This is the best I can do." The figure began to move away from me and I tried to sit up. Finally it clicked and knew who he was.

"Jake?" I asked, my voice a harsh whisper and he stopped. "What's...what happened?" I asked, still not able to get my voice to work quite right.

"Don't come back Bella." He said his eyes so full of pain, I wanted to comfort him, but I wasn't sure what was going on. "Stay out of Forks. I can only do so much. The pack, they don't understand. Don't come back." And with that he turned and ran, phasing as he went. I tried to sit up, but the dizziness hit me again and I sank to the forest floor, allowing the darkness to have me.

A/N- So what do you think? It's not over yet but it might be a little while till I get the next one up. I just liked this, wanted to see what you all thought. :-) Hope its good, let me know.


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